Glycosylation Pathways
De novo synthesized proteins may undergo further processing in cells, known as post-translational modification. In particular, sugar residues may be added enzymatically, a process known as glycosylation. The resulting proteins bearing covalently linked oligosaccharide side chains are known as glycosylated proteins or glycoproteins. Bacteria typically do not glycosylate proteins; in cases where glycosylation does occur it usually occurs at nonspecific sites in the protein (Moens and Vanderleyden, Arch. Microbiol. 1997 168(3):169–175).
Eukaryotes commonly attach a specific oligosaccharide to the side chain of a protein asparagine residue, particularly an asparagine which occurs in the sequence Asn—Xaa—Ser/Thr/Cys (where Xaa represents any amino acid). Following attachment of the saccharide moiety, known as an N-glycan, further modifications may occur in vivo. Typically these modifications occur via an ordered sequence of enzymatic reactions, known as a cascade. Different organisms provide different glycosylation enzymes (glycosyltransferases and glycosidases) and different glycosyl substrates, so that the final composition of a sugar side chain may vary markedly depending upon the host.
For example, microorganisms such as filamentous fungi and yeast (lower eukaryotes) typically add additional mannose and/or mannosylphosphate sugars. The resulting glycan is known as a “high-mannose” type or a mannan. By contrast, in animal cells, the nascent oligosaccharide side chain may be trimmed to remove several mannose residues and elongated with additional sugar residues that typically do not occur in the N-glycans of lower eukaryotes. See R. K. Bretthauer, et al. Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry, 1999, 30, 193–200; W. Martinet, et al. Biotechnology Letters, 1998, 20, 1171–1177; S. Weikert, et al. Nature Biotechnology, 1999, 17, 1116–1121; M. Malissard, et al. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2000, 267, 169–173; Jarvis, et al. 1998 Engineering N-glycosylation pathways in the baculovirus-insect cell system, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 9:528–533; and M. Takeuchi, 1997 Trends in Glycoscience and Glycotechnology, 1997, 9, S29–S35.
The N-glycans that are produced in humans and animals are commonly referred to as complex N-glycans. A complex N-glycan means a structure with typically two to six outer branches with a sialyllactosamine sequence linked to an inner core structure Man3GlcNAc2. A complex N-glycan has at least one branch, and preferably at least two, of alternating GlcNAc and galactose (Gal) residues that terminate in oligosaccharides such as, for example: NeuNAc-; NeuAcα2–6GalNAcα1-; NeuAcα2–3Galβ1–3GalNAcα1-; NeuAcα2–3/6Galβ1–4GlcNAcβ1-; GlcNAcα1–4Galβ1-(mucins only); Fucα1–2Galβ1-(blood group H). Sulfate esters can occur on galactose, GalNAc, and GlcNAc residues, and phosphate esters can occur on mannose residues. NeuAc (Neu: neuraminic acid; Ac: acetyl) can be O-acetylated or replaced by NeuGl (N-glycolylneuraminic acid). Complex N-glycans may also have intrachain substitutions of bisecting GlcNAc and core fucose (Fuc).
Human glycosylation begins with a sequential set of reactions in the endoplasmatic reticulum (ER) leading to a core oligosaccharide structure, which is transferred onto de novo synthesized proteins at the asparagine residue in the sequence Asn—Xaa—Ser/Thr (see FIG. 1A). Further processing by glucosidases and mannosidases occurs in the ER before the nascent glycoprotein is transferred to the early Golgi apparatus, where additional mannose residues are removed by Golgi-specific 1,2-mannosidases. Processing continues as the protein proceeds through the Golgi. In the medial Golgi a number of modifying enzymes including N-acetylglucosamine transferases (GnT I, GnT II, GnT III, GnT IV GnT V GnT VI), mannosidase II, fucosyltransferases add and remove specific sugar residues (see FIG. 1B). Finally in the trans Golgi, the N-glycans are acted on by galactosyl tranferases and sialyltransferases (ST) and the finished glycoprotein is released from the Golgi apparatus. The protein N-glycans of animal glycoproteins have bi-, tri-, or tetra-antennary structures, and may typically include galactose, fucose, and N-acetylglucosamine. Commonly the terminal residues of the N-glycans consist of sialic acid. A typical structure of a human N-glycan is shown in FIG. 1B.
Sugar Nucleotide Precursors
The N-glycans of animal glycoproteins typically include galactose, fucose, and terminal sialic acid. These sugars are not generally found on glycoproteins produced in yeast and filamentous fungi. In humans, the full range of nucleotide sugar precursors (e.g. UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine, CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid, UDP-galactose, GDP-fucose etc.) are generally synthesized in the cytosol and transported into the Golgi, where they are attached to the core oligosaccharide by glycosyltransferases. (Sommers and Hirschberg, 1981 J. Cell Biol. 91(2): A406—A406; Sommers and Hirschberg 1982 J. Biol. Chem.257(18): 811–817; Perez and Hirschberg 1987 Methods in Enzymology 138: 709–715.
Glycosyl transfer reactions typically yield a side product which is a nucleoside diphosphate or monophosphate. While monophosphates can be directly exported in exchange for nucleoside triphosphate sugars by an antiport mechanism, diphosphonucleosides (e.g. GDP) have to be cleaved by phosphatases (e.g. GDPase) to yield nucleoside monophosphates and inorganic phosphate prior to being exported. This reaction is important for efficient glycosylation; for example, GDPase from S. cerevisiae has been found to be necessary for mannosylation. However the GDPase has 90% reduced activity toward UDP (Berninsone et al., 1994 J. Biol. Chem. 269(1):207–211α). Lower eukaryotes typically lack UDP-specific diphosphatase activity in the Golgi since they do not utilize UDP-sugar precursors for Golgi-based glycoprotein synthesis. Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a yeast found to add galactose residues to cell wall polysaccharides (from UDP-galactose) has been found to have specific UDPase activity, indicating the requirement for such an enzyme (Berninsone et al., 1994). UDP is known to be a potent inhibitor of glycosyltransferases and the removal of this glycosylation side product is important in order to prevent glycosyltransferase inhibition in the lumen of the Golgi (Khatara et al., 1974). See Berninsone, P., et al. 1995. J. Biol.Chem.270(24): 14564–14567; Beaudet, L., et al. 1998 Abc Transporters: Biochemical, Cellular, and Molecular Aspects. 292: 397–413.
Compartmentalization of Glycosylation Enzymes
Glycosyltransferases and mannosidases line the inner (luminal) surface of the ER and Golgi apparatus and thereby provide a catalytic surface that allows for the sequential processing of glycoproteins as they proceed through the ER and Golgi network. The multiple compartments of the cis, medial, and trans Golgi and the trans Golgi Network (TGN), provide the different localities in which the ordered sequence of glycosylation reactions can take place. As a glycoprotein proceeds from synthesis in the ER to full maturation in the late Golgi or TGN, it is sequentially exposed to different glycosidases, mannosidases and glycosyltransferases such that a specific N-glycan structure may be synthesized. The enzymes typically include a catalytic domain, a stem region, a membrane spanning region and an N-terminal cytoplasmic tail. The latter three structural components are responsible for directing a glycosylation enzyme to the appropriate locus.
Localization sequences from one organism may function in other organisms. For example the membrane spanning region of α-2,6-sialyltransferase (α-2,6-ST) from rats, an enzyme known to localize in the rat trans Golgi, was shown to also localize a reporter gene (invertase) in the yeast Golgi (Schwientek, et al., 1995). However, the very same membrane spanning region as part of a full-length of α-2,6-sialyltransferase was retained in the ER and not further transported to the Golgi of yeast (Krezdorn et al., 1994). A full length GalT from humans was not even synthesized in yeast, despite demonstrably high transcription levels. On the other hand the transmembrane region of the same human GalT fused to an invertase reporter was able to direct localization to the yeast Golgi, albeit it at low production levels. Schwientek and co-workers have shown that fusing 28 amino acids of a yeast mannosyltransferase (Mntl), a region containing an N-terminal cytoplasmic tail, a transmembrane region and eight amino acids of the stem region, to the catalytic domain of human GalT are sufficient for Golgi localization of an active GalT (Schwientek et al. 1995 J. Biol. Chem. 270(10):5483–5489). Other galactosyltransferases appear to rely on interactions with enzymes resident in particular organelles since after removal of their transmembrane region they are still able to localize properly.
Improper localization of a glycosylation enzyme may prevent proper functioning of the enzyme in the pathway. For example Aspergillus nidulans, which has numerous α-1,2-mannosidases (Eades and Hintz, 2000 Gene 255(1):25–34), does not add GlcNAc to Man5GlcNAc2 when transformed with the rabbit GnT I gene, despite a high overall level of GnT I activity (Kalsner et al., 1995). GnT I, although actively expressed, may be incorrectly localized such that the enzyme is not in contact with both of its substrates: the nascent N-glycan of the glycoprotein and UDP-GlcNAc. Alternatively, the host organism may not provide an adequate level of UDP-GlcNAc in the Golgi.
Glycoproteins Used Therapeutically
A significant fraction of proteins isolated from humans or other animals are glycosylated. Among proteins used therapeutically, about 70% are glycosylated. If a therapeutic protein is produced in a microorganism host such as yeast, however, and is glycosylated utilizing the endogenous pathway, its therapeutic efficiency is typically greatly reduced. Such glycoproteins are typically immunogenic in humans and show a reduced half-life in vivo after administration (Takeuchi, 1997).
Specific receptors in humans and animals can recognize terminal mannose residues and promote the rapid clearance of the protein from the bloodstream. Additional adverse effects may include changes in protein folding, solubility, susceptibility to proteases, trafficking, transport, compartmentalization, secretion, recognition by other proteins or factors, antigenicity, or allergenicity. Accordingly, it has been necessary to produce therapeutic glycoproteins in animal host systems, so that the pattern of glycosylation is identical or at least similar to that in humans or in the intended recipient species. In most cases a mammalian host system, such as mammalian cell culture, is used.
Systems for Producing Therapeutic Glycoproteins
In order to produce therapeutic proteins that have appropriate glycoforms and have satisfactory therapeutic effects, animal or plant-based expression systems have been used. The available systems include:                1. Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO), mouse fibroblast cells and mouse myeloma cells (Arzneimittelforschung. 1998 Aug;48(8):870–880);        2. transgenic animals such as goats, sheep, mice and others (Dente Prog. Clin. Biol. 1989 Res. 300:85–98, Ruther et al., 1988 Cell 53(6):847–856; Ware, J., et al. 1993 Thrombosis and Haemostasis 69(6): 1194–1194; Cole, E. S., et al. 1994 J.Cell.Biochem. 265–265);        3. plants (Arabidopsis thaliana, tobacco etc.) (Staub, et al. 2000 Nature Biotechnology 18(3): 333–338) (McGarvey, P. B., et al. 1995 Bio-Technology 13(13): 1484–1487; Bardor, M., et al. 1999 Trends in Plant Science 4(9): 376–380);        4. insect cells (Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9, Sf21, Trichoplusia ni, etc. in combination with recombinant baculoviruses such as Autographa californica multiple nuclear polyhedrosis virus which infects lepidopteran cells) (Altmans et al., 1999 Glycoconj. J. 16(2):109–123).        
Recombinant human proteins expressed in the above-mentioned host systems may still include non-human glycoforms (Raju et al., 2000 Annals Biochem. 283(2):123–132). In particular, fraction of the N-glycans may lack terminal sialic acid, typically found in human glycoproteins. Substantial efforts have been directed to developing processes to obtain glycoproteins that are as close as possible in structure to the human forms, or have other therapeutic advantages. Glycoproteins having specific glycoforms may be especially useful, for example in the targeting of therapeutic proteins. For example, the addition of one or more sialic acid residues to a glycan side chain may increase the lifetime of a therapeutic glycoprotein in vivo after admininstration. Accordingly, the mammalian host cells may be genetically engineered to increase the extent of terminal sialic acid in glycoproteins expressed in the cells. Alternatively sialic acid may be conjugated to the protein of interest in vitro prior to administration using a sialic acid transferase and an appropriate substrate. In addition, changes in growth medium composition or the expression of enzymes involved in human glycosylation have been employed to produce glycoproteins more closely resembling the human forms (S. Weikert, et al., Nature Biotechnology, 1999, 17, 1116–1121; Werner, Noe, et al 1998 Arzneimittelforschung 48(8):870–880; Weikert, Papac et al., 1999; Andersen and Goochee 1994 Cur. Opin.Biotechnol.5: 546–549; Yang and Butler 2000 Biotechnol.Bioengin.68(4): 370–380). Alternatively cultured human cells may be used.
However, all of the existing systems have significant drawbacks. Only certain therapeutic proteins are suitable for expression in animal or plant systems (e.g. those lacking in any cytotoxic effect or other effect adverse to growth). Animal and plant cell culture systems are usually very slow, frequently requiring over a week of growth under carefully controlled conditions to produce any useful quantity of the protein of interest. Protein yields nonetheless compare unfavorably with those from microbial fermentation processes. In addition cell culture systems typically require complex and expensive nutrients and cofactors, such as bovine fetal serum. Furthermore growth may be limited by programmed cell death (apoptosis).
Moreover, animal cells (particularly mammalian cells) are highly susceptible to viral infection or contamination. In some cases the virus or other infectious agent may compromise the growth of the culture, while in other cases the agent may be a human pathogen rendering the therapeutic protein product unfit for its intended use. Furthermore many cell culture processes require the use of complex, temperature-sensitive, animal-derived growth media components, which may carry pathogens such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions. Such pathogens are difficult to detect and/or difficult to remove or sterilize without compromising the growth medium. In any case, use of animal cells to produce therapeutic proteins necessitates costly quality controls to assure product safety.
Transgenic animals may also be used for manufacturing high-volume therapeutic proteins such as human serum albumin, tissue plasminogen activator, monoclonal antibodies, hemoglobin, collagen, fibrinogen and others. While transgenic goats and other transgenic animals (mice, sheep, cows, etc.) can be genetically engineered to produce therapeutic proteins at high concentrations in the milk, the process is costly since every batch has to undergo rigorous quality control. Animals may host a variety of animal or human pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and prions. In the case of scrapies and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, testing can take about a year to rule out infection. The production of therapeutic compounds is thus preferably carried out in a well-controlled sterile environment, e.g. under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) conditions. However, it is not generally feasible to maintain animals in such environments. Moreover, whereas cells grown in a fermenter are derived from one well characterized Master Cell Bank (MCB), transgenic animal technology relies on different animals and thus is inherently non-uniform. Furthermore external factors such as different food uptake, disease and lack of homogeneity within a herd, may effect glycosylation patterns of the final product. It is known in humans, for example, that different dietary habits result in differing glycosylation patterns.
Transgenic plants have been developed as a potential source to obtain proteins of therapeutic value. However, high level expression of proteins in plants suffers from gene silencing, a mechanism by which the genes for highly expressed proteins are down-regulated in subsequent plant generations. In addition, plants add xylose and/or α-1,3-linked fucose to protein N-glycans, resulting in glycoproteins that differ in structure from animals and are immunogenic in mammals (Altmann, Marz et al., 1995 Glycoconj. J. 12(2);150–155). Furthermore, it is generally not practical to grow plants in a sterile or GMP environment, and the recovery of proteins from plant tissues is more costly than the recovery from fermented microorganisms.
Glycoprotein Production Using Eukaryotic Microorganisms
The lack of a suitable expression system is thus a significant obstacle to the low-cost and safe production of recombinant human glycoproteins. Production of glycoproteins via the fermentation of microorganisms would offer numerous advantages over the existing systems. For example, fermentation-based processes may offer (a) rapid production of high concentrations of protein; (b) the ability to use sterile, well-controlled production conditions (e.g. GMP conditions); (c) the ability to use simple, chemically defined growth media; (d) ease of genetic manipulation; (e) the absence of contaminating human or animal pathogens; (f) the ability to express a wide variety of proteins, including those poorly expressed in cell culture owing to toxicity etc.; (g) ease of protein recovery (e.g. via secretion into the medium). In addition, fermentation facilities are generally far less costly to construct than cell culture facilities.
As noted above, however, bacteria, including species such as Escherichia coli commonly used to produce recombinant proteins, do not glycosylate proteins in a specific manner like eukaryotes. Various methylotrophic yeasts such as Pichia pastoris, Pichia methanolica, and Hansenula polymorpha, are particularly useful as eukaryotic expression systems, since they are able to grow to high cell densities and/or secrete large quantities of recombinant protein. However, as noted above, glycoproteins expressed in these eukaryotic microorganisms differ substantially in N-glycan structure from those in animals. This has prevented the use of yeast or filamentous fungi as hosts for the production of many useful glycoproteins.
Several efforts have been made to modify the glycosylation pathways of eukaryotic microorganisms to provide glycoproteins more suitable for use as mammalian therapeutic agents. For example, several glycosyltransferases have been separately cloned and expressed in S. cerevisiae (GalT, GnT I), Aspergillus nidulans (GnT I) and other fungi (Yoshida et al., 1999, Kalsner et al., 1995 Glycoconj. J. 12(3):360–370, Schwientek et al., 1995). However, N-glycans with human characteristics were not obtained.
Yeasts produce a variety of mannosyltransferases e.g. 1,3-mannosyltransferases (e.g. MNN1 in S. cerevisiae) (Graham and Emr, 1991 J. Cell. Biol. 114(2):207–218), 1,2-mannosyltransferases (e.g. KTR/KRE family from S. cerevisiae), 1,6-mannosyltransferases (OCH1 from S. cerevisiae), mannosylphosphate transferases (MNN4 and MNN6 from S. cerevisiae) and additional enzymes that are involved in endogenous glycosylation reactions. Many of these genes have been deleted individually, giving rise to viable organisms having altered glycosylation profiles. Examples are shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1Examples of yeast strains having altered mannosylationN-glycanN-glycanStrain(wild type)Mutation(mutant)ReferenceS. pombeMan>9GlcNAc2OCH1Man8GlcNAc2Yoko-o et al.,2001 FEBSLett. 489(1):75–80S. Man>9GlcNAc2OCH1/Man8GlcNAc2Nakanishi-cerevisiaeMNN1Shindo et al,.1993 J. Biol.Chem. 268(35):26338–26345S.Man>9GlcNAc2OCH1/Man8GlcNAc2Chiba et al.,cerevisiaeMNN1/1998 J. Biol.MNN4Chem. 273,26298–26304
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Public No. 8–336387 discloses an OCH1 mutant strain of Pichia pastoris. The OCH1 gene encodes 1,6-mannosyltransferase, which adds a mannose to the glycan structure Man8GlcNAc2 to yield Man9GlcNAc2. The Man9GlcNAc2 structure is then a substrate for further mannosylation in vivo, leading to the hypermannosylated glycoproteins that are characteristic of yeasts and typically may have at least 30–40 mannose residue per N-glycan. In the OCH1 mutant strain, proteins glycosylated with Man8GlcNAc2 are accumulated and hypermannosylation does not occur. However, the structure Man8GlcNAc2 is not a substrate for animal glycosylation enzymes, such as human UDP-GlcNAc transferase I, and accordingly the method is not useful for producing proteins with human glycosylation patterns.
Martinet et al. (Biotechnol. Lett. 1998, 20(12), 1171–1177) reported the expression of a-1,2-mannosidase from Trichoderma reesei in P. pastoris. Some mannose trimming from the N-glycans of a model protein was observed. However, the model protein had no N-glycans with the structure Man5GlcNAc2, which would be necessary as an intermediate for the generation of complex N-glycans. Accordingly the method is not useful for producing proteins with human or animal glycosylation patterns.
Similarly, Chiba et al. 1998 expressed α-1,2-mannosidase from Aspergillus saitoi in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A signal peptide sequence (His—Asp—Glu—Leu) was engineered into the exogenous mannosidase to promote retention in the endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, the yeast host was a mutant lacking three enzyme activities associated with hypermannosylation of proteins: 1,6-mannosyltransferase (OCH1); 1,3-mannosyltransferase (MNN1); and mannosylphosphatetransferase (MNN4). The N-glycans of the triple mutant host thus consisted of the structure Man8GlcNAc2, rather than the high mannose forms found in wild-type S. cerevisiae. In the presence of the engineered mannosidase, the N-glycans of a model protein (carboxypeptidase Y) were trimmed to give a mixture consisting of 27 mole % Man5GlcNAc2, 22 mole % Man6GlcNAc2, 22 mole % Man7GlcNAc2, 29 mole % Man8GlcNAc2. Trimming of the endogenous cell wall glycoproteins was less efficient, only 10 mole % of the N-glycans having the desired Man5GlcNAc2 structure.
Since only the Man5GlcNAc2 glycans would be susceptible to further enzymatic conversion to human glycoforms, the method is not efficient for the production of proteins having human glycosylation patterns. In proteins having a single N-glycosylation site, at least 73 mole % would have an incorrect structure. In proteins having two or three N-glycosylation sites, respectively at least 93 or 98 mole % would have an incorrect structure. Such low efficiencies of coversion are unsatisfactory for the production of therapeutic agents, particularly as the separation of proteins having different glycoforms is typically costly and difficult.
With the object of providing a more human-like glycoprotein derived from a fungal host, U.S. Pat. No. 5,834,251 to Maras and Contreras discloses a method for producing a hybrid glycoprotein derived from Trichoderma reesei. A hybrid N-glycan has only mannose residues on the Manα1–6 arm of the core and one or two complex antennae on the Manα1–3 arm. While this structure has utility, the method has the disadvantage that numerous enzymatic steps must be performed in vitro, which is costly and time-consuming. Isolated enzymes are expensive to prepare and maintain, may need unusual and costly substrates (e.g. UDP-GlcNAc), and are prone to loss of activity and/or proteolysis under the conditions of use.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system and methods for humanizing glycosylation of recombinant glycoproteins expressed in Pichia pastoris and other lower eukaryotes such as Hansenula polymorpha, Pichia stiptis, Pichia methanolica, Pichia sp, Kluyveromyces sp, Candida albicans, Aspergillus nidulans, and Trichoderma reseei. 